Millimeter wave (mmWave) communications has been recently standardized for use in the fifth generation (5G) of cellular networks, fulfilling the promise of multi-gigabit mobile throughput of current and future mobile radio network generations. In this context, the network densification required to overcome the difficult mmWave propagation will result in increased deployment costs. Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) has been proposed as an effective mean of reducing densification costs by deploying a wireless mesh network of base stations, where backhaul and access transmissions share the same radio technology. However, IAB requires sophisticated control mechanisms to operate efficiently and address the increased complexity. The Open Radio Access Network (RAN) paradigm represents the ideal enabler of RAN intelligent control, but its current specifications are not compatible with IAB. In this work, we discuss the challenges of integrating IAB into the Open RAN ecosystem, detailing the required architectural extensions that will enable dynamic control of 5G IAB networks. We implement the proposed integrated architecture into the first publicly-available Open-RAN-enabled experimental framework, which allows prototyping and testing Open-RAN-based solutions over end-to-end 5G IAB networks. Finally, we validate the framework with both ideal and realistic deployment scenarios exploiting the large-scale testing capabilities of publicly available experimental platforms

翻译：毫米波通信已在第五代（5G）蜂窝网络中被标准化，旨在实现当前及未来移动无线网络代际的多千兆移动吞吐量承诺。在此背景下，为克服毫米波传播困难所需的网络密集化将导致部署成本增加。集成接入与回传（IAB）被提出作为一种有效降低密集化成本的手段，通过部署基站的无线网状网络，使回传和接入传输共享同一无线技术。然而，IAB需要复杂的控制机制才能高效运行并应对增加的复杂性。开放无线接入网络（RAN）范式是实现RAN智能控制的理想使能技术，但其当前规范与IAB并不兼容。本文探讨了将IAB集成到开放RAN生态系统中所面临的挑战，详细阐述了所需的架构扩展，以实现对5G IAB网络的动态控制。我们将所提出的集成架构实现到首个公开可用的开放RAN实验框架中，该框架允许在端到端5G IAB网络上对基于开放RAN的解决方案进行原型设计与测试。最后，我们利用公开实验平台的大规模测试能力，在理想和实际部署场景下对该框架进行了验证。